E-Priming the Listener: Sensitizing Students to Listening for Verbal Aggression

This paper argues that the concept of E-Prime (E′) holds practical benefits to effective listening for students of interpersonal communication. In advancing this argument, the paper includes a concise review of relevant literature on E-Prime, defensiveness, and conflict, with particular emphasis on verbal aggression. The literature demonstrates that traditional imperatives to reduce listener defensiveness need careful consideration. In fact, offering unqualified assertions for listeners to reduce defensiveness may place students at undue risk for harm. This paper reviews pedagogical uses of E-Prime in interpersonal communication courses.